Pride And Glory (2008) March 8, 2009
Posted by Rob in : Movie Reviews, dvd, Drama, 2008 , add a commentAny film that boasts Edward Norton and Colin Farrell is worth a viewing in my book and ‘Pride And Glory’ doesn’t disappoint.A tale of family and Police moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney (Norton) is called into investigate the slaying of four NY Police Officers which leads to corruption involving his brother in law Jimmy Eagen (Farrell).The two leads are ably supported by the excellent Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich, though not quite in the league of say ‘The Departed’ this is still a fine Police drama and well worth checking out.
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Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) February 9, 2009
Posted by Rob in : Comedy, 2008 , add a commentI had slightly high hopes for this little movie.It stars the likable Micheal Cera (Juno, Superbad) as Nick, just dumped by his girlfriend of six months Tris (Alexis Dziena).Whilst on a night out with his friends, and band mates, he happens to hook up with Norah (Kat Dennings) who secretly fancies Tris stalkerish ex.The film it must be said is a bit of a mess, it lacks the warmth of ‘Juno’ the comedy wackiness of ‘Superbad’, the first half of the movie is wasted as they try to find Norah’s drunk friend, but the whole time Cera’s character becomes increaingly more annoying, for chist sakes man this gorgeous girl is obsessed by you, forget the horrible cliched tarty ex!!!The whole movie is sadly one big teen movie cliche, punctuated by a horrible soundtack of faceless US rock, the ending utterly predictable and quite frankly a major major disappointment.
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“Day Time” TV February 4, 2009
Posted by Rob in : TV, BBC1 , add a commentLast year, the tail end of January, I was unfortunately made redundant, so when this happens there’s two things you do, one, look for a job (sadly I’m not a 15 year old single parent so this was the only option) and two, watch loads of tv when you normally wouldn’t.Well thankfully I’ve been back in employment for quite some time now but last week I had a weeks holiday to recharge the batteries, oh all right, watch the tele and go to the pub!! So one year later, what delights do the main channels offer us? Well Four and Five the word dross springs to mind, BBC2 is pretty much dedicated to kids tv, ITV has ‘This Morning’ hosted by Phillip Schofield and the nauseating Fern Britton so we’ll skip that, which leaves us with BBC1, which is what I used to let rot my brain all those months ago.The startling thing is that the line-up I’m sure is exactly the same as last year…….
09:15 Wanted Down Under Revisited.
Now this really is one shocking waste of license payers money.Some dopey family get a free trip to ‘Oz’ to see if they like it and want to start a new life.Three things are guaranteed in this show, the kids will be in tears understandably, at the thought of leaving all their friends, the friends/family will be in tears at the thought of them moving and usually, the Wife will have a blub too.Dross.
10:00 Homes Under The Hammer.
One word RECESSION.Bargain houses you want? Walk into any Estate Agents and knock 20% off the price, for what possible reason is this show on in the current economic climate?!
11:00 Too Buy Or Not Too Buy.
It’s not getting better is it?
11:45 Cash In The Attic.
Classy this show.Couple fancy buying a pony or some pointless other waste of money so get some experts to search their attic for long lost Monet’s.They usually end up flogging Grand Dads war medals.
12:15 Bargain Hunt
God let it end…………….oh the Pub’s open.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) February 2, 2009
Posted by Rob in : Movie Reviews, Drama, 2007 Releases , 1 comment so farI have to admit this film passed me by when it was released but I recently saw a very positive review of in a back issue of either ‘Total Film‘ or ‘Empire‘ so added it to 
my ‘watch’ list over at Lovefilm.The film tells the relatively straight forward story of how two cash strapped brothers Andy and Hank Hansen (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke)plan to rob their own parents jewelry store, a victimless crime as they put it, they sell the goods, their parents claim on insurance.The robbery goes horribly wrong though and the story then tells the story from each persons point of view, back tracking in time to show what led to these desperate measures.Hoffman is excellent as usual, one of the great actors in Hollywood today, and he is ably supported by Hawke, Marisa Tomei (who spends most of her screen time topless!) and the legendary Albert Finney as the brothers father.An excellent crime thriller well worth 2 hours of anyones time.
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The Gadget Show Travel Special (C4) February 1, 2009
Posted by Rob in : TV, C4 , add a commentI have to admit I am a big fan off Channel 4’s ‘The Gadget Show’ since it started back in 2004 but it does have some big problems.The major one, and one that has got greater with each series, is the constant emphasis on ‘challenges’ and less so on reviewing the constant stream of new technology being churned out not just in the U.K but world wide.Well Series 10 finished last Christmas and to keep us going until series 11 in March we have a one off special, and yes, it’s a dreaded challenge.The usual presenters are on show, Jason Bradbury, Suzi Perry and Jon Bentley, but the annoying Dallas apparently has left, I for one won’t miss him.His replacement is Ortis Deley, whom I’ve never seen or heard of before, we’ll see how long he lasts.Anyway, onto the special, well like all challenges there was lots of racing round, the presenters getting very over excitable (especially Jason which is the norm) admittedly plenty of gadgets were given air time but why does the show have to tell us endlessly what’s “coming up” then recapping on what we’ve just seen, we’re not bloody goldfish C4!! In all fairness the show was entertaining, the trouble is if you watch the weekly TV podcast on the official site you get more info in that 7 minute bite than in an entire ‘60 minute’ show.
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FIFA 2009 (Xbox 360)
Posted by Rob in : Xbox 360 , add a commentSince time began, well 1994/95, there has always been two games vying for the title of ‘Best Football Game’ on the modern console (Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive, Sony PS series, Xbox series) and they have been EA Sports ‘FIFA’ series and it’s arch rival Konami’s ‘Pro Evolution Soccor’.In all though years ‘FIFA’ had the advantage of being fully licensed by, of course, FIFA, but Pro-Evo had the upper hand and most important winning element..game play.So how do things stand as we head for the second decade of the new Millennium? Well it’s big news, the general consensus is that the Pro-Evo series is “stuck in a rut” (winning to easy, poor online gaming) whilst for the first time EA have brought out the football console game.It was with these recommendations that I forked out £165 for an Xbox 360 from Amazon a month ago, FIFA 2009 was thrown in for a tenner.So, the verdict? Near faultless I would say, stunning HD graphics, great gameplay, on and off line, I’ve been playing the ‘Be A Pro’ part of the game constantly now for nearly 3 weeks, I’ve hardly dipped my toe into the rest of the game so addictive it is!! The satisfaction of a putting a free flowing attack together with some nice one-twos then burying the ball in the back of the net is gaming heaven……5 weeks on I’m still playing this game, and this is the only one I’ve bought so far such is the addictive caliber of FIFA 2009.
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Sex Drive (2008)
Posted by Rob in : Movie Reviews, Comedy, 2008 , add a commentThe first I became aware of this flick was the constant ads being pumped out for it on MTV, it has to be said along with it’s pretty awful title it really did look like one to avoid.Then the reviews came out in the U.K and they were largely positive, some saying it was this years ‘Superbad’.Well it must be said whilst not quite in the league of McLovin’ & co this is still a highly enjoyable, brainless, daft, but very funny teen flick.The plot is simple and has been done to death (’The Sure Thing’,'Road Trip’) virgin male teen has the chance of popping his cherry with a super fit babe halfway across the States, on the way he meets lots of wacky characters and get’s involved in more and more bizarre situations.The cast are all likable, Ian (Josh Zuckerman), best friend Lance (the very funny Clark Duke) Ian’s psycho jock brother Rex (James Marsden) as well as the wacky characters they meet, Seth Greene does a star turn as Ezekiel, the United States most sarcastic Amish with a knack for fixing cars.The jokes come thick and fast and is well worth checking out
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Drag Me To Hell (2009) January 29, 2009
Posted by Rob in : Horror, Movie previews, 2009 , add a commentBloody Disgusting has an early review of Sam Raimi’s new horror flick on-line and it’s a big thumbs up too, I quote, “quite simply the most PERFECT horror film I’ve seen in a long, long” and “(Drag Me To) HELL is like a comic book come to life that is full of colorfull characters, crazy imagery and cheap gags that work every single time“.
Roll on the 28th May!
Friday The 13th (2009)
Posted by Rob in : Horror, Movie previews, 2009 , add a commentHmmm…another redux of a classic horror, and they don’t get more classic than Friday 13th, the film that kick started the whole teen in peril slasher flick back on 1980 and introduced us to a classic horror figure Jason Voorhees.13th February 2009, yes it’s a Friday, see’s the release of the classic movie’s remake.Things though don’t look promising, I fear another glossy Hollywood style effort, director Marcus Nispel has hardly an inspiring pedigree, none of the five films he has directed have been based on original material and the cast is peppered with good looking teen such as Amanda Righetti, and Willa Ford, great eye candy yeah, but casting Keeley Hazel and Kelly Brook does not inspire confidence in a good movie does it, remember ‘Three’?! Anyway I might be wrong, Nispel’s remake of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was a good horror movie so here’s hoping for a similar effort, and if Amanda and Willa want to run around in tight fitting t-shirts like the one Jessica Biel wore, I shan’t complain!!!
My Name Is Earl (C4) Series 4
Posted by Rob in : TV, C4 , add a commentThe good news is one of my favourite US shows is back for a new series, and the even better n
ews is that it hasn’t jumped the shark as I feared so much after the pretty lame Series 3.The show is back to it’s original format, Earl sets out to cross people of his list of bad things that he has done.All characters are larger than life as usual, Joy, Crabman, Randy, Catalina plus some new ones, David Arquette appears and stars in the title role of the bitter sweet tale of “Sweet Johnny” plus the return of past favourites such as Earls gay pal Kenny.
Welcome back the folk of Camden County!!
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